Troy Falls at No. 19 James Madison in SBC Championship Game

Friday, December 5

Harrisonburg, Va,

6 p.m.

Troy University

8-5 , 6-2

James Madison

12-1 , 8-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Troy

James Madison

Troy Falls at No. 19 James Madison in SBC Championship Game

12/5/2025 11:27:00 PM | Football

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

HARRISONBURG, Va. – No. 19 James Madison scored a pair of late touchdowns to survive a battle from Troy, 31-14, Friday night in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game at Bridgeforth Stadium.

James Madison (12-1) forced Troy to punt near midfield with 6:36 to play in the game, while leading 17-14. The Dukes needed just five plays to go 83 yards, sparked by a 40-yard run from Wayne Knight before a 26-yard touchdown run by Alonza Barnett II gave JMU a two-score lead with 4:11 to play in the game.

Down starting left tackle Eli Russ and starter quarterback Goose Crowder, James Madison sacked Tucker Kilcrease twice on the ensuing drive, including on 4^th-and-19, which resulted in a fumble returned for a touchdown and the knockout blow.

Troy (8-5), which was playing in the SBC Championship Game for the third time in four years, held James Madison to just 93 passing yards and forced the Dukes into a pair of turnovers. It was JMU's third-lowest passing output of their FBS history and lowest offensive output against an SBC opponent in two months.

Barnett, the SBC Player of the Year, finished just 10-of-25 through the air with an interception.

Harrisonburg received between 3 and 5 inches of snow overnight and into the morning on Thursday, which led to in-stadium issues throughout the game. While most of the stadium was cleared of snow, the student section was not, which resulted in a constant barrage of snowballs directed at Troy players throughout the game, with no action taken.

Snowballs hit Troy punter Evan Crenshaw during a first quarter punt attempt, which resulted in just a 26-yard punt. James Madison took advantage of the short field, gaining just 11 yards but still getting three points out of the drive.

Crowder put the Trojans in front, 7-3, with his second rushing touchdown of the season, a 1-yard plunge on the third play of the second quarter. It was the seventh rushing touchdown by a Troy quarterback this season, the most since 2017.

The Dukes answered on the first play of the ensuing drive as Knight broke through the middle of the Troy defense for a 73-yard touchdown run. Knight finished with 212 yards on 21 carries, while Barnett rushed for 85 yards on 12 carries.

Short field position following a partially blocked punt led to another James Madison touchdown with just over seven minutes to play in the opening half.

However, Crowder led Troy on an 11-play, 75-yard drive, sparked by a pair of big completions to DJ Epps, before Tae Meadows cashed it in from two yards out.

Jaquez White intercepted Barnett midway through the third quarter and returned it to the JMU 28-yard line, but the Trojans missed a field goal. Justin Powe, who finished with a career-high 11 tackles, got the ball right back for the Trojans, forcing and recovering a fumble on the ensuing drive. Troy again couldn't capitalize, going three-and-out.

Up Next
Troy will go bowling for the 11^th time at the FBS level and for the sixth time in the last 10 seasons.

Quotable – Head Coach Gerad Parker
"You have to humble yourself and say what a great job by James Madison. Coach Chesney, staff, players, certainly played championship-level football, especially in the second half to finish the job to win 11 straight and the Sun Belt. Tip of the hat to them; they outplayed us tonight.

"To our guys, what an unbelievable effort that was made by our staff and all our players to put us in a position to win the football game. We knew it had to be a specific style of game. We knew it had to be a particular way to stay low 20s to high teens, hopefully to win the football game. We had it right there, especially with the two turnovers coming out of halftime. We could not capitalize, and that was the key to the game. Getting no points off those two turnovers was the difference in the game.

"Again, credit to them; we just did not execute well enough in special teams and offensively there in the third quarter to get the game tied or take the lead. That would have been huge right there. It got away in the last six minutes after the offensive turnover.

"I could not be prouder of this group of guys that came in two years ago, mostly, and stood up to a lot of adversity and got ourselves to the point to be in the championship football game, which Troy expects to be. Proud of our guys for getting us there. There will be a bad taste in our mouths on the way home, but I hope our returning players keep that taste. To our guys that we'll lose, we certainly are just going to look ahead for some momentum to our bowl game and finish this season the right way. But I'm happy and proud of our guys; tough loss and we end it with humility, and we really appreciate what all has been given by players and staff.

"They've been tough to block all year; their stats say so. I thought for us to get 14 points in the first half and put it where the game where it was late was an unbelievable job by a very stricken offense that just got worse tonight. We lost our left tackle in Eli Russ and things changed. What happened is that we got consumed by personnel issues, and they're already really good. They create a really good pass rush and play a lot of friction in man coverage, that made it a little bit longer to get open. When you're down, you gotta throw it, and when you have to throw it too much and are not able to move the pocket, it gives you a sitting target that they tee'd off on.

"I think at the end of this, it's a good time to say it. It was a bumpy road throughout this season. Not all the time do you get to reel off 10 or 11 straight. Those are fun years. This year was hard for us; we went through a lot of things. Not once did you hear excuses from me or the players. For those moments. I think that's the right way to do it. I think there's reasons for some of our struggles on offense and the stuff that they've been through. We found ways to win games close; there was a particular way we had to play this year to find a way to win games. For us to sit here 8-5 and Sun Belt Conference West Champions and runner-up in this final deal is a testament to our team. There's a lot of resilience and grittiness to Troy football to get us here. Perfect? No. I hope next year is a little smoother, but if it isn't, we'll be built for it."

Senior Bandit Jah-Mal Williams
"Personally, I feel like from the beginning of the season everybody doubted us. The entire team never doubted the whole season. Everything you guys saw, we had the confidence to put the work in. The good and the bad, it was no surprise for us. The whole team knew with no doubt in our hearts and minds that we could win, regardless of who we play. Hats off to James Madison; they got us. Sometimes life comes with losses."

Redshirt Junior Punter Evan Crenshaw
"Nobody would have picked us to be in this spot at the start of the year. We were ranked sixth in the West. What we did to overcome that, trying to block out all the noise. All the noise is just motivation at the end of the day, and that is what fueled us all year. Every single time we were doubted, we played better. That's what kept us going all year."

Notable
• The game marked Troy's third appearance in the Sun Belt Championship Game in the last four seasons.

• Game-time temperature was recorded at 26 degrees, the lowest for a Troy game on record. The previous low was 32 degrees on Dec. 14, 1996, at Montana.

• James Madison won the opening coin toss and elected to defer to the second half; Troy received the opening kickoff. The Trojans are now 19-34 the last four seasons and 12-25 the last three seasons on the coin toss. The Trojans are 6-7 this year on the coin toss.

• Goose Crowder put Troy on the board with a 1-yard run in the second quarter; it was his second rushing touchdown of the season and first since the season opener. It was Crowder's third career rushing touchdown.

• Troy quarterbacks have rushed for seven touchdowns this season; it's the most since 2017 when Brandon Silvers (5) and Kaleb Barker (2) also combined for seven rushing touchdowns.

• Tae Meadows pulled Troy within 17-14 in the second quarter with his sixth rushing touchdown of the season and seventh of his career. It marked the second time in his career he rushed for touchdowns in back-to-back games (Buffalo, South Alabama).

• Troy was held to -26 rushing yards, its fewest in the program's FBS history ... Troy lost 36 yards due to sacks.

• Troy lost both starting left tackle Eli Russ and quarterback Goose Crowder due to injury in the game.

• Justin Powe recorded a career-high 11 tackles and forced the first fumble of his career.

• JMU's 31 points were its fewest against a Sun Belt opponent since scoring 24 against Louisiana on Oct. 11 ... The Dukes scored just 24 offensive points against the Trojans.

• Troy forced two turnovers, marking the 61st time since 2016 it has forced multiple turnovers in a game. Troy entered the weekend ranked 14th nationally in the category.

• Troy held Sun Belt Player of the Year Alonza Barnett III to just 10-of-25 passes for 93 yards and an interception.

• James Madison's 93 passing yards were its third-fewest in the program's FBS history.

• Troy recorded three sacks in the game; it marked the seventh time this season the Trojans had three or more sacks in a game. Troy has recorded multiple sacks in 34 games since the start of the 2022 season, which was the 27th most in the country entering the weekend.

• Donnie Smith added his 10th sack of the season; he is the only player in the Sun Belt with double-digit sacks.

• Donnie Smith now has a full sack in eight different games, which is tied for the most in the country.

• David Daniel-Sisavanh recorded a career-high two pass break ups; he entered the game with two this season.

• Despite the arctic weather and being pelted with snowballs from the JMU students, Evan Crenshaw averaged more than 40 yards on his nine punts, including placing three inside the 20-yard line and added another 50-yard punt to his season tally.